The book is in a First Step Series called Painting Watercolors by Cathy Johnson. In the introduction she states ten reasons why watercolor inspires such passion and loyalty. I wish I could post all ten reasons because each one resonates with me but #3 describes watercolor as I would define it. "Watercolor is versatile. It can be loose and free, or as full of crisp details as a photograph; it can be pastel and soft, or strong and bold." I really like this statement because after my first two paintings I thought maybe I wasn't doing something right. Mine weren't free and flowing like I imagined watercolors to be.
This was my first attempt ever. I took this photograph about five years ago in Colonial Williamsburg. I love walking around Williamsburg during the Christmas season and taking pictures of all the door decorations. It's just so Williamsburg. When I passed this darling cat in the window watching all the tourists walk by I had to take his picture. I love cats so this first watercolor was appropriate.
I was very pleased with this first attempt so I looked through my millions of pictures; mind you my first love was photography before anything else. So for my second watercolor I picked a picture of a little Amish boy that I took last year while visiting Lancaster, PA.
I love how the sketch turned out so let's take paint to paper now:
Now I need to work on my paper issues. I didn't buy the most expensive kind of watercolor paper because, well, these were test runs. But now I think I'm ready to invest in the good stuff. Christmas is in three days so if I get any gift cards they will be used for watercolor paper. I also have a photo printed that I want to paint on canvas. Exciting! I've never painted on canvas... woo I feel like I'm moving into the big time stuff!
I hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday season. May we all remember that God's gift to us was Jesus Christ our Savior. Merry Christmas!
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